Cardano’s Midnight Airdrop Is Live: NIGHT Tokens Up for Grabs Across 8 Chains

• Midnight Network’s NIGHT airdrop is live, targeting over 30 million wallets across eight blockchains.
• Eligible users have 60 days to claim, with tokens unlocking gradually over a 360-day schedule.
• Cardano holders receive 50% of the NIGHT supply, making it the largest share of the airdrop.

Cardano’s privacy-focused sidechain, Midnight Network, has launched its “Glacier Drop”; a massive, multi-chain airdrop for its new NIGHT token. 

The event is one of the largest of its kind, that aims to onboard millions of users from across eight major blockchain ecosystems while promoting long-term commitment and responsible token distribution.

Midnight’s Multi-Chain Airdrop Begins

The airdrop officially launched on August 5, opening a 60-day claim window that extends until October 4, 2025. 

The eligibility criteria were based on a snapshot taken on July 11, targeting users who held at least $100 in native assets across networks such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, Solana, BNB Chain, Avalanche, XRP Ledger, and Brave.

Cardano holders receive the lion’s share of the NIGHT token distribution, with 50% of the total supply allocated to ADA addresses. Bitcoin holders receive 20%, while the remaining 30% is split among the other six chains.

According to Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, the airdrop marks the culmination of six years of development, calling it a grand marathon of intellectual and practical challenges.

So what now? The airdrop is live, but the big question is if you qualify. Here’s CoinEdition’s detailed guide.

How to Claim Your NIGHT Tokens

Claiming NIGHT tokens involves a three-step process through Midnight’s official portal:

• Eligible users enter their original blockchain address and provide a Cardano destination address. Users must then sign a message to confirm ownership and accept the terms.
• Claimed tokens are initially frozen. They will unlock in four staggered 25% installments across a randomized schedule over 360 days to prevent market dumps.
• Once available, users can redeem their NIGHT allocations. A 90-day grace period is provided after the last thaw event.

Importantly, users must create a Cardano address to participate, an intentional strategy to expand the Cardano ecosystem.

Phased Distribution Strategy for Long-Term Adoption

Midnight’s Glacier Drop features a three-phase rollout with the first phase being live where holders get a 60-day window to claim tokens. 

The second post-claim phase is a 30-day period where unclaimed tokens are redistributed to users solving computational tasks. Finally, the last phase is a four-year window for late claims by original eligible wallets.

The entire mechanism, spread over the course of a year, aims to reduce speculative trading and encourage deeper user participation in the ecosystem.

Technical Snag for Ledger Users

A technical challenge has emerged for Cardano users trying to claim with Ledger hardware wallets, though. The issue stems from message size limits in Ledger’s current software, which prevents the signing of the required 251-byte claim message, but Ledger currently supports only 31 bytes.

To fix this, Midnight developers and the team at Shielded Technologies have introduced a secure, zero-value transaction embedding the claim message as metadata, allowing users to clearly verify the data on their Ledger screens before signing.

The fix is undergoing audit and is expected to be live by August 25. Eligible users have until October 4 to make their claims. 

But why all the hype? This launch didn’t come out of nowhere. A prior CoinEdition report showed the project already had over 1,000 developers building on its devnet.